Thread: Setting up a home workshop - any tips?

Check out your local auction houses. Lots of racking, shelving, steel cupboards, lockers etc. go through auctions on a regular basis. Plan cabinets sometimes called engineer's desks are good. The ones with the deeper drawers make great tool boxes when fitted with strong casters. These are necessarily for home/workshop use as they are not easy to move around the countryside. Great for the shed. One will hold every tool you own plus. They are becoming scarce as almost nobody nowadays keeps paper drawings. All on-line now in these days of CAD/CAM.

Originally Posted by Classic88

Metal school-type lockers are quite useful and make the place look less cluttered than open shelves.

Yes school lockers are great for storage of parts, power tools, etc. If you keep your eyes open you can pick them up for a decent price. I bolt steel shelving into them to try and utilise them to the max., however wooden shelving in them is just as good. Old pallets are very easy to get and are a great source of timber for recycling into shelves etc. Plenty of power points and air lines are a worthwhile thought. If your has a bit of height about it and has a decent gable an attic or mezzanine floor is handy for storage. At the end of the day, a big shed is good, but good utilisation of shed space is far better. Too much stuff sitting around on the shed floor makes it a nightmare to clean. I know Here below is a pic of the school lockers with shelving fitted. Cheers, Mick.

Lots to think about. My electrician is either going to be seriously annoyed or thrilled by the amount of work I'll need done. I should have mentioned that the garage has its own toilet, so that's a plus.

I'm a bit limited by what I can do with the floor. The previous owner painted almost all of it with garage floor paint (which as far as I can tell isn't much different to house paint). To put anything else on, I would first have to sand/grind the floor to remove the paint and mechanically etch the concrete. I'm thinking I'll just give it a good clean, scuff it up a bit and put another coat of the same stuff down.

I am very keen to use all of the storage space I possibly can, while leaving enough room to actually work on the cars. Why doesn't Ikea do a flat pack system??

A cheap way to paint the floor is to use fence paint as it is cheap and surprisingly works very well, we did one of our sheds about seven years ago and it still hasn't worn off even in the high traffic areas. A mate used to paint the floor of his tackle shop every two years with fence paint, even near the door it wouldn't wear off in two years.
Do you have enough height for a hoist? They are a must have if you do have the overhead space.

My shed is less multi-purpose than it was supposed to be - however, I've done one thing 'right'. That is, to make a sub-frame (I work mostly in wood) and set up the shelves atop them; wheels beneath (one set of turning wheels only). I did this originally so I could access almost never-used rolladoors easily when needed.
The first time I did this was for a second-hand cupboard (sliding doors are slightly better, less than you'd think). Later, I got some metal frame (100kg per shelf) shelves and did the same for them. Tip - hardwood under-frame. Or metal. I also clad them in plywood and gave them a lock - keeps honest people out.

I'm in the middle of doing this at the moment. My shed is a bit more modest at 7.2m * 7.2m.

I'd redo the floor, pay someone else to grind it (I can recommend a guy) but you can paint it yourself. PPG EXT two-pack epoxy. $160 per 8 litre kit and I'd budget on 3 kits, so call it about $500 once you add some reducer to thin the first coat. Can get the paint from PPG/Protec at Rocklea or Geebung depending on which side of town you're on.

Shelving, talk to Absoe at Moorooka, fire them an email, don't just rely on the website. I picked up some ex-masters colby longspan shelving, 3075 high (I can fit up to 3100 so it's pretty much perfect) and 600 deep, two bays at 2590mm wide inside each, 5 shelves each with MDF inserts for under $800. It was in almost perfect condition and looks great.

Obviously you won't be able to go something that tall, but Absoe have got tonnes of stock on hand. A bit like you've discussed, I've got my first shelf 950mm off the ground to give me enough space to put the mig welder, roll cabs and a few other bulky items underneath. I expect to end up with two more roll cabs and also to make custom roll-cabs to take all of my small parts containers.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/47EvkppktZDDViIz2

Lights, you really can't have enough light. Think of a reasonable number of lights, double it then add two. Don't stick them all down the middle, then the roof of whatever car you're working on will put everything else in shadow. Light coloured walls help a lot here.

Compressed air. Run 25mm blue stripe poly and put nitto fittings at about the same spacing as you'd put power points. Long air hoses suck.

Given it sounds like you won't have the height for a hoist, then go buy yourself a big workshop jack. Tradetools used to have a great 2500kg one (it had a lower low height, higher raised height then the equivalent 2000kg one) but I note that it is no longer listed on their website. Also grab yourself four big (mine are 5t I think) and four small ratcheting jack stands. Being able to get the car up high and keep it there safely makes a big difference.

Standardise on storage containers. I use one particular series of small parts trays which are just from Bunnings. For larger stuff I strongly recommend Nally Crates, they're the de facto industry standard for commercial grade plastic tubs. They're a fair bit more expensive than your bunnings-grade items, but you'll probably leave them to your kids in your will. Best place to get Nally Crates in brisbane is "People in Plastic" just off the Ipswich Motorway at Rocklea.

It was cheaper for me to buy eBay fake "dexion" shelving than to buy the wood alone, and it saved the hassle of building it. This lot was about $600 delivered , new !!

Also if you have any old rugs or carpet, hang them up instead of putting on the floor, They do an amazing job of absorbing noise. The neighbours have never heard any machinery noise from my shed & I have either the lathe or Milling machine running a couple of hours a week . (I try to limit grinding & cut off wheel though. )

But Im sure they hear plenty of swearing though.